The meeting started off quite amicably, as Raichik didn’t seem to hold back on his identity as they posed for a photo together. Then he told the progressive lawmaker: “I just sent an ethics complaint to your office because you lied to me in a committee meeting.”
“I really don’t, because you’re super transphobic, and I don’t want to share a space with you. Thanks!” Ocasio-Cortez backed off before storming in.
Trans-rights activists also shared the clip, praising Ocasio-Cortez for shutting down Raichik.straight to his face.”
“You are with me,” Ocasio-Cortez responded on Twitter. “NYC doesn’t play with bigots and transphobes and neither do I.”
Raichik, who is known for her anti-LGBTQ activism, recently visited the lawmaker’s office to deliver a complaint accusing Ocasio-Cortez of undermining her at a recent hearing. Members of parliament said Raichik’s 2022 tweet claimed that Boston Children’s Hospital provides gender-affirming hysterectomies for girls is “false information.” Doctors from the hospital discussed the procedure in a video, but did not say who was eligible.